Well, it looks like I will be teaching a once-a-week class on the Doctrine and Covenants (starting with Section 78) for the folks that live across the lake from Seattle. I’m looking forward to it. I will update this post with information and class notes as we move forward.

This week, Utah State University Press released a biography of William H. Smart. Smart was a missionary in Turkey, later the Eastern States Mission President from 1899-1900 and a Stake President in Utah. He was integral in the post-reservation settlement of the Uintah Basin. To be frank, I have only skimmed through the biography; more interested was I in the CD-ROM that came with the book – over 2,500 8.5×11 typescript pages of his diaries and letters. (more…)

This post is a direct continuation of Part I and follows without introduction.

The “History of Joseph Smith History” (HJS) version of the KFD or the “Manuscript History of the Church” from which it was prepared, is the textual foundation for all subsequent popular accounts of the sermon. As noted, the HJS was prepared by the Church Historians and as the recent LDS Priesthood/RS lesson manual points out, the leaders of the Church felt very confident in the production. (1) It was reprinted in four other nineteenth-century publications (2); however, aspects of the sermon’s teaching led to several controversies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (more…)

Part II of the series is available here. EDITORIAL NOTE: This post contains links to various transcripts of the “King Follett Discourse” which I have prepared. I prepared them quickly, so it is best to check against the originals for any meaningful analysis.

Joseph Smith delivered the “King Follett Discourse” (KFD) on April 7, 1844. It was his last General Conference. Joseph had lost several close associates to apostasy and Navuoo was tense. Joseph defied his critics, and with the KFD, Joseph showed his hand, pledging as proof that he was not “a fallen prophet,” details of his ultimate theology. The critics had a field-day with the content and Joseph made his rebuttal on June 16, in what is commonly called the “Sermon in the Grove.” The KFD is perhaps the most famous of all Joseph’s sermons, but the text of the most common printings has followed and interesting and, at times, strained route. This post is the first of a two part series reviewing the history of this text. (more…)

I am a chemist by training, but Mormon history has always been open to dilettants (for good and ill). Still, as I ran headlong into the ocean of Mormon historiography, without the mentorship of many I would have been churned and released, to lie recovering on the sand. Without question, the measure that I am able to swim through the vast primary sources and previous works today can mostly be traced back to the kind aid of Justin. I know of no individual with his bibliographic breadth, keen insight and editorial skill.

As some know, Kris and I have worked together for the past couple of years doing research on Mormon healing. Our earliest work has focused on the liturgical aspects of Mormon healing, but we intend to eventually get to medical science as well. We recently found out that our paper, “‘They Shall Be Made Whole’: A History of Baptism for Health,” has been accepted by the Journal of Mormon History. We also just finished up our next paper, “The Forms and the Power: The Development of Mormon Ritual Healing to 1847” and are looking forward to seeing what the editors say about it. I think they are both exciting papers, but now it is on to the next thing. (more…)

One of the most invaluable publication series in Mormon Studies is Utah State University Press’s Life Writings of Frontier Women, with Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Series Editor. I have the full quiver of volumes and several have been integral in my research in Mormon liturgical history. This year, perhaps in a bid to balance the various narratives, USU Press is printing Exposé of Polygamy: A Lady’s Life among the Mormons. (more…)

Perhaps as we celebrate our feasts we will give thanks for our co-religionists who sacrificed much more than we currently do for Zion’s sake. Besides reading Justin’s excellent post, the following are a few journal entries of our religious progenitors: (more…)

I am typically an Amazon.com man. I have the free two-day shipping and I love their used and new options. This year, however, we received a couple of gift certificates to Barnes & Noble. I recently decided to use them. (more…)

The Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections has been slowly amassing one of the most important digital archives in Mormon Studies. I just noticed that they have added the Young Women’s Journal.(more…)

Hosea Stout was in charge of police at Nauvoo and Winter Quarters. His diary, edited by Juanita Brooks, is a great treasure, though very rare on the used book market. He wrote mostly of the activities relating to his work, but on occasion we see personality that reflects the devastation of the pioneer trek. Hosea left Nauvoo with six children and within a year and a half lost them all. Especially poignant is the death of his namesake: (more…)

I am entering my 3rd and final week with two rare Mormon diaries. This is my first municipal inter-library loan experience. I just finished volume one of Juanita Brooks’ two-volume On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1964). It is fitting that I would receive and read it now. (more…)

As Bushman wrapped up his biography of Joseph Smith during the summer of 2005, Glen Nelson, who publishes a variety of Mormon Cultural projects, asked him to keep a diary of the events surrounding the roll-out of the book for publication. The fruit of those diaries was an unbound limited edition that sports a handmade cherry-wood slip case. Kofford Books received permission to publish a paperback edition which is available as of this week on Amazon. I picked up a copy at MHA a month ago. (more…)

I was surprised to be called Friday to see if I might be able to substitute in Primary for the 11-12 year olds on Sunday. It seems that the teacher is not entirely dependable and would I be a back up? I was given the information on the Church site to get the lesson materials and began to prepare. This is not a remarkable occurrence. I am sure it happens thousands of times each week in the church. The surprise is that I haven’t had a calling in the church for months. (more…)

My parents left Utah as part of the great migration to the west coast. When I was young, leaving and finding a place in the world was simply part of life. It is what we do. We are progressive and brave. While others stayed in the cradle of Deseret, we expanded and capitalized on gentile opportunity. I was proud of what we did. I still am; but as I have gotten older, I have realized the price we pay for it. (more…)

Ardis’s recent post at T&S on home libraries, got me thinking about a new piece of software that I am testing out. I’m not sure why I like the idea of cataloging books so much, but I have to admit that the fun of doing it has made me consider ponying up the $40 or whatever to purchase the software once the free trial is over. (more…)

Things have been a bit slow going here as most of my free time is going towards MHA prep. However, I thought it would be nice to share the good news about Google Books for Mormon Studies. Google has gone though major libraries and digitized their books. Publishers have also digitized their collections and they are available in various states of accessibility though Google’s website. This is an incredible resource. (more…)

I grew up hearing cussing /swearing. I heard it all the time. It wasn’t hard core language that fell on my young ears, just the D word, H word and S word having to do with manure and the oft used A word that referred to one’s posterior and the kicking thereof. (more…)

Due to the explicit discourse of Joseph Smith, most frequently called the King Follet Discourse, many Latter-day saints believe that the spirit and mind of man is eternal and can never be created or destroyed. While he had preached this concept five years earlier, there was a significant diversity of thought post-martyrdom on the topic. Perhaps the two most identifiable ideologies were those of Orson Pratt (see here) and Brigham Young. This post will deal with Brigham’s thoughts on spirit creation from the perspective of a unique aspect of his thought: spirit destruction. (more…)

Years ago, my wife confided to me that Sundays are definitely not a day of rest. To be perfectly fair, I conceded the point. I was serving in a Bishopric and “got” to escape the struggle of getting small children ready for church, loading them into the car, and then sitting with said children alone while your spouse quietly and serenely smiled down upon your antics from the stand. We talked about this and agreed that my responsibility to my children didn’t end because I was on the stand. Many are the sacrament meetings that I have a small squirrly in the chair next to me in an attempt at discipline or reward for good behavior (my son would have gladly submitted to a public thrashing rather than sit in front of people, my daughter was just the opposite). The ward members didn’t seem to mind. (more…)